Castle Hills to consider censure for councilman who pushed for repairs to his street

CASTLE HILLS, Texas - Castle Hills City Council on Tuesday will discuss censuring Councilman Douglas Gregory, weeks after a KSAT 12 Defenders report revealed that he openly pushed for the street he lives on to be moved up the city's street repair list.

Censure is a formal state of disapproval often used by governmental bodies to publicly reprimand a person.

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An investigation by the Castle Hills Police Department in November cleared Gregory of criminal wrongdoing, but concluded that he was "strongly suggestive (at a minimum) to have staff reduce his street's OCI."

OCI, or Overall Condition Index, is a figure used to determine a street's condition.

The lower the OCI, the worse condition a street is in, and the sooner it will typically come up for repairs.

City records show the street Gregory lives on, Briarcliff Drive, was originally given an OCI in the mid-40s.

The section of street in front of Gregory's home was later lowered to 28 by city staff after repeated comments by Gregory during Street and Drainage Committee meetings, according to city records.

A score of 28 moved that section of Briarcliff ahead of nearly 50 other streets, records show.

Audio records confirm that Gregory, who was chairman of the committee, mentioned his own street at least 10 times during committee meetings last year.

"All I know is I've got just about everybody on my street ready to shoot me and the rest of the committee if they do not seriously consider Briarcliff," Gregory said during a committee meeting in May 2017.

Castle Hills Mayor Tim Howell disbanded the committee in November after being briefed on the results of an administrative inquiry into Gregory's comments.

Gregory provided the Defenders with a nearly 20-minute, at times tense, explanation for his comments before a council meeting last month.

Gregory said the city's Cartegraph program used to determine a street's OCI was not being implemented properly, and that he repeatedly brought up Briarcliff because a previous chairman of the committee brought it up as a candidate for possible repairs.

Tuesday's council meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. at Castle Hills City Hall.